Drive means for feeding and moistening means in address printing machines



Jan. 7, 1969 G. E. SHEPHERD 3,420,162

DRIVE MEANS FOR FEEDING AND MOISTENING MEANS IN ADQ'BESSI'PRINTINGMACHINES Filed March 23, 1967 Shee'rI of I5 P2 1- INVENTOR I' l c. E.SHEPHERD r'roRNEys Jan. 7, 1969 G. E. SHEPHERD 3,420,162

DRIVE MEANS FOR FEEDING AND MOISTENING MEANS IN ADDRESS PRINTINGMACHINES Filed March 23, 1967 Sheet z of 5 El INVENTOR G. E. SHEPHERDJan. 7, 1969 G. E4 SHEPHERD 3,420,162

DRIVE MEANS FOR FEEDING AND MOISTENING MEANS IN ADDRESS PRINTINGMACHINES Filed March 23, 1967 Sheet 3 of 5 INVENTOR G. E. SHEPHERD 'r1oRNEyS United States Patent O 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Afeed mechanism for feeding single master address punched cards throughan addressing machine, synchronized with the feed into the machine ofthe sheet to be printed from the address card.

This invention relates to addressing machines and particularly toaddressing machines in which are used master address punched cards fromwhich the address or other information on the cards is transferred on toa sheet or sheets fed through the machine.

It has been found difficult, in the past, to feed, automatically,punched address cards singly through a machine for the followingreasons:

(a) The notched edges of the stacked punched cards interfere with eachother so that one card will not slide forward without carrying with itone or more additional cards from the stack.

(b) When more than one card passes through the machine at one time, onlyone card will imprint and the others will pass through withoutimprinting.

(c) Suction means have been tried to lift solid type cards, one at atime. This has failed, due to the stiffness of the card and, inaddition, as no air is trapped between cards in the stack, there is atendency, if strong suction is used, to lift more than one card.

The present invention has been designed to overcome the defects aboveoutlined, and consists essentially of a drive means, including feed andpressure rolls whereby sheets to be printed are fed into the machine oneafter the other and the leading edge of each sheet as it is fed into themachine sets in motion a secondary drive operable to feed one onlymaster address card on to the sheet passing through the machine, thesheet and card then passing under press rolls for imprinting of theunderlying sheet. It is a characteristic of the machine that the sheetto be printed is moistened by a moistening roll brought into contactwith the sheet, by the secondary drive, at a predetermined position onthe sheet relative to its leading edge and that the secondary drive isactivated to feed one only of the master address cards and is,thereafter, inactive until the leading edge of a following sheet to beprinted enters the machine. A solenoid forms a part of the drivemechanism and is activated when a micro-switch is closed by pressure ofthe sheet to be printed as the sheet passes thorugh the machine.Associated with the solenoid is a trip mechanism and a pair of springclutches which permit one cycle of operation only of the secondary driveeffecting feeding of one only of the master cards and one moisteningoperation. One of the spring clutches is of a type which can be set bymeans of a timing cam to control the length of time during which thesecondary drive is operable.

In order that only one master card will be fed into address printingposition at one time a special feed apparatus operable by the secondarydrive is utilized. In a preferred embodiment of the invention a specialknife engages with and pushes forward a single card 3,420,162 PatentedJan. 7, 1969 lCC from the bottom of a pile, while in another embodimentthe top card in a pile is lifted off and transferred forward by motionmeans. In order that only a single card will be transferred at one time,the cards are so designed that there is a layer of air between eachcard. To -accomplish this, the cards have a rectangular cut-out at apredetermined location and a thin paper label on which is imprinted thedesired name and address or other information, is adhesively attached tothe card so as to cover the rectangular opening in the card. The nameand address on the thin paper label is printed on the back with atransferable ink for impression on a statement sheet or other sheet tobe addressed.

It is an object of the invention to provide an addressing machine inwhich one only master address card is fed into impression transfercontact with a single sheet to be printed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sheet drive mechanismand a secondary drive whose time of starting is controlled by theleading edge of the sheet to be printed as it is fed into the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide timing means whereby thelength of time during which the secondary drive is operable can becontrolled.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby moisteningmeans is applied to the sheet to be printed and is synchronized with thedelivery of the master card into printing position on the sheet.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the drivemechanism can be used to deliver a master card into printing position byeither mechanical or suction means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a master card which,when piled into a stack, will have a layer of air between them.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed specification and the arf companying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a plan View of a master card.

FIG. 2 is a transverse section of the card shown in FIG. l taken on theline 2 2.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the inventionusing a mechanical feed of individual master cards into printingposition.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic vertical elevation of the drive mechanism tothe various lparts of the machine shown in FIG. 3, including timingapparatus whereby a secondary drive controlled by the leading edge ofthe sheet to be printed sets in motion the sheet moistening and the feedof a single master card.

FIG. 5 is a partial diagrammatic view taken from FIG. 2, showing themoistening roll moved into contact with the sheet to be printed.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the master card rack shown in FIG. 4 showingthe ca-rd feeding knife and the means to reciprocate the knife.

FIG. 7 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a capillary method of feeding moisture tothe moistening roller.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the machine adapted forsuction transfer of the master card from a stack.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged vertical section of the master card rack shown inFIG. 9 with the suction device in contact with the top card of thestack.

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. l0 but showing the suction devicebefore descending into contact with -a card.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged transverse section of the suction device showingthe top card in a stack partly lifted.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to FIGS. 1

to 8 inclusive. The addressing machine 5 is preferably for the use ofpunched type master cards 6 generally of the type shown in FIGURES l and2. The cards 6 can be of any of the regular sizes used for the purposeof addressing material such as statements, etc. and are provided with acut-out 7 over which a printed label i8 is adhesively fixed to the card.The label 8 is printed on its underside with a transferable ink asindicated at 9.

The machine has a series of pairs of feed rollers 10 by which sheets ofpaper to be printed are fed through the machine from the table 11.

A master card rack 12 is located above the feed rollers and a gearcasing 13 provides the drive for the various elements of the machine. Amoisture container 14 is mounted on the side of the gear casing 13 toprovide moisture to sheet moistening rolls as will be described later.

A master card receiving bin 15 and a printed sheet receiving bin 16 areprovided at the discharge end of the machine.

The drive mechanism contained within the gear casing 13 is showndiagrammatically in FIGS. 4 and 5 and includes a primary drive shaft 17,driven by a motor 18. A chain 19 is led over the sprockets 20, 21, 22,23, 24 and back to the shaft 17. A tension sprocket 26 is adjustable tomaintain a desired tension in the chain 19. The sprockets 21, 22, 24 and25 rotate the pairs of feed rolls 10.

The sprocket 20 is secured to one side of a spring clutch 27, the springend 28 of which is normally held against rotation lby the hooked end 29of the pivoted lever 30. The sprocket 23 is secured to one side of asecond spring clutch 31, the spring end 32 of which is normally heldagainst rotation by the upper end 33 of the pivoted lever 34. When thespring clutches 27 and 31 are released, a secondary drive from thesprocket 23 to the shaft 35 through the chain 36 is initiated. In orderto activate this secondary drive the micro-switch 37 is closed by theleaf spring 38 which is depressed when the leading edge of a sheet ofpaper, generally indicated at 39 enters between the first of the pair offeed rollers 10. Closing of the micro-switch 37 activates the solenoid40, pulling down its shaft 41 which is normally held in the up positionby the spring 42.

The lower end 43 of the trip plate 44 engages with the head of the shaft41 while the upper end 45 of the trip plate 43 engages with the pin 46on the lever 30.

The shaft has mounted on it a worm 47 engaging with the worm gear 48 forrotation of the shaft 49. A disc 50, secured to the end of the shaft 49,is located within a circular opening 51 in the ybottom wall 52 of themaster card rack 12. Slidably mounted on the top surface of the bottomwall 52 is a plate 53 provided with a transverse slot 54 on its undersurface. A pin 55 projecting upwards from the disc engages in the slot54 to effect reciprocation of the plate 53 in the guides 56 when thedisc 50 is rotated.

Attached to the transverse edge 57 of the plate 53 is a thin steel knife58. The knife 58, adjacent its attachment to the plate 53, is providedwith an upstanding transverse ridge 59 providing a shallow shoulder 60.From this shoulder 60 the body of the knife slopes downwards to itsopposite edge which is in contact with the upper surface of the bottomWall 52 of the rack 12. The depth of the shoulder 60 does not exceed thethickness of the master cards 6. A slot 61 at the bottom of the rearwall 62 of the rack 12 permits one card only to be pushed out of therack as the card is engaged by the shoulder 60 of the knife 58.

The shaft 35 has a cam 63 secured to it. This cam 63, on rotation of theshaft 35, depresses the lever `64 which, in turn, supports the papermoistening roller 65 to move the roller down into contact with the paper39 being fed through the machine.

FIG. 8 shows diagrammatically a means for feeding moisture from thereservoir 14 by means of a felt strap 66 to the spring loaded roller 67against which the paper moistening roller 65 is normally in contactwith.

As the sheet 39 is fed through the final set of feed rolls 10a a singlemaster card `6a (FIGURE 4) is fed into contact with the sheet 39synchronized to locate its printed label 8 with the moistened portion ofthe sheet 39 in order that, when yboth the sheet and master card arepassed through the feed rolls 10a the transferable ink impression 9 onthe label will be impressed on the sheet 39 at the exact predeterminedlocation. In order that a good transfer will be made from the label 8 tothe sheet 39 the topmost roll 10b is spring loaded by the spring 68. Thesheet 39 and card 6a are then discharged from the machine by the feedrolls 69 and the cards are separated from the sheet in well knownmanner, the cards being discharged into the receiving bin 15 while theprinted sheets are discharged into the receiving bin 16.

The secondary drive controls the location of the moisture deposit on thesheet 39 and the feeding of individual master cards 6a, the operation ofthe secondary drive will now be described in detail.

When the motor 18 is switched on by the switch 70, the feed rolls arerotated by the chain 19 which, in turn causes the sprockets 20 and 23 torotate. However these sprockets 20 and 23 rotate freely as the springclutches are held locked by reason of their spring ends 28 and 32 beingheld against rotation by the levers 30 and 34 respectively.

The cam 29 on the spring clutch 27 is set so that its shoulder 29a has apredetermined time gap A with respect to the end 34a of the lever 34.This gap A determines the lapse of time required between when theleading edge of the sheet 39 causes the micro-switch 37 to close andrelease of the second spring clutch 31 to initiate the secondary drive.

As the leading edge of the sheet causes the micro-switch 37 to close thesolenoid 40 is activated to pull down the trip plate 44 against thespring 42. The trip plate 44, in turn, pulls down the end 29 of thelever 30 thereby releasing the spring end 28 and the clutch 27. The cam29 rotates with a time delay before contacting the end 34a of the lever34, causing the lever to rotate which, in turn, releases the spring end32 and the clutch 31. The secondary drive to the shaft 35 is nowactivated through the chain 36.

Rotation of the shaft 35 causes rotation of the worm and worm-gear 47-48which, in turn, rotates the disc 50 to impart reciprocation motion to'the plate 53 and knife 58. As the shoulder 60 of the knife 58 can onlycontact the thickness of one master card and as there is a pocket of airin the rectangular opening 7 of the card, the master card 6a willreadily slide forward beneath the stack above. At the same time as asingle master card 6a fed forward the cam 63 on the shaft 35 is rotatedto depress the lever 64, moving the moistening roller `65 down intocontact with the sheet 39 as it is fed through the machine. The settingof the cam 63 on its shaft 35 and the time delay caused Iby the cam 29combine to ensure that the sheet 39 will be moistened at a predeterminedlocation relative to the leading edge of the sheet and the master card6a will be moved forward into contact with the sheet so that its printedlabel 8 will =be located directly over the moistened portion of thesheet 39 as both sheet and master card enter between the rolls 10a and10b.

The lever 30 is spring loaded by the spring 71 and the solenoid shaft 41is also spring loaded lby the spring 42. As the solenoid is activatedand its shaft 41 is pulled down, it carries with it the trip plate 44thereby releasing the trip plate 44 from engagement with the pin 46 onthe lever 30. The spring 71 immediately rotates the lever 30 back to itsoriginal position (solid lines in FIGURE 4) to immediately re-engage thespring end 28 of the clutch 27 and so limit the operation of the clutchto one cycle only. The lever 34 is spring loaded 'by the spring 72 tomaintain its lower end in contact with the cam 29, therefore, as thespring clutch 27 is limited to one cycle only,

the upper end 33 of the lever 34 will also limit the spring clutch 31 toa single cycle.

The solenoid 40 is maintained activated all the time that a sheet 39 ispassing over the micro-switch 37 so that ony one master card 6a is fedforward during this time. As soon as the trailing edge of the sheet 39clears the micro-switch 37 the solenoid 40 will be de-energized and thespring 42 will cause the solenoid shaft 41 and trip plate 44 to moveupwards into engagement with the pin 46 on the lever 30. The apparatusis then in position to recycle the secondary drive to moisten afollowing sheet 39 and feed forward another master card 6a as soon asthe leading edge of the following sheet 39 closes the micro-switch 37.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG- URES 9 to l2 thedrive is similar to that shown between the motor 18 and the shaft 35illustrated in FIGURE 4, including the micro-switch 37, solenoid 40 andthe two spring clutches 27 and 31 and the following description is to beread in conjunction with FIGURE 4.

A rocker shaft 80 is mounted for rotation on the lever 81 which, inturn, is secured to the shaft 82. The shaft 82 is rotated by a crank arm83 operatively connected with the shaft 35 (FIGURE 4) by the link 84.Secured to the rocker shaft 80 is an arm 85 having a pin 86. This pin 86engages in the cam slot 87 in the side plate 88 of the machine frame.Also secured to the rocker shaft 80 is a suction device 89 adapted forrocking movement with the shaft 80.

The suction device 89 includes a hollow tube 90 one end of whichconnects with an axial bore 91 in the shaft 80 while the opposite end ofthe tube 90 has a suction cup 92 mounted thereon. A protective cap 93 issecured on the tube 90 and has its lower peripheral edge engaging withthe upper surface of the suction cup 92. A iiexible tube 94 is connectedthrough a nipple 95 with the bore 91 in the shaft 80 and with a sourceof suction not shown.

The master cards 6b are similar to the master cards 6 above describedand include the cut out 7, label 8 with printed matter 9.

As the shaft 35 is rotated in the manner above described, the suctiondevice 89 is moved from the position shown in FIGURE ll down intocontact with the label 8 of the topmost master card 6b in the stack. Atthe same time suction is applied to the suction device 89 continuouspartial rotation of the shaft 35 causes the suction device 89 to rise inthe manner shown in FIGURES 10 and l2, and swing forward due to theaction of the pin 86 in the cam slot 87.

As will be seen in FIGURE l2 suction is applied only to the thin paperlabel 8 of the topmost master card 6b and, due to the fact that there isa pocket of trapped air in the cut-out 7 below the label 8, the topmostmaster card 6b will be lifted clear of the next below card.

On continuous partial rotation of the rocker shaft 80 the suction device89 and lifted card 6b will move forward in the direction of the arrow 96to deliver the card into the nip of the feed rollers 97 prior to theprinting of the sheet 39 being fed through the machine in the mannershown in FIGURE 4.

Following delivery of the master sheet 6b to the feed rollers 97 thesuction device 89 is swung back to its normal position as shown inFIGURE 11. As the operation of the shaft 35 is governed by the twospring clutches 27 and 31 which, in turn are controlled by the feed of asheet of paper to be printed passing over the microswitch 37 in themanner previously described, the suction device 89 will remain in itsnormal position shown in FIGURE ll until such time as a cycle ofoperation is initiated by the leading edge of a sheet 39 closing themicro-switch.

It will be obvious from the above description, in which a particularform of master card is used for printing sheets with an address or otherinformation and with the use of a synchronized secondary drive fordelivering a single master card into printing position relative to thesheet to be printed that the printing operation can be carried outswiftly and accurately without the possibility of more than one mastercard being fed through the machine at one time and with the surety thata master card will not be fed through the machine unless there is asheet to be printed actually in the process of passing through themachine.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An addressing machine in which a master address card is fed intoprint contacting position at a printing station with a sheet, as thesheet is fed through the machine past the printing station, the machineincluding a first drive means for continuously feeding a sheet throughthe machine, an actuatable moistening means, a master card feedingmeans, a secondary drive means for the moistening means and master cardfeeding means operable from said first drive means and wherein saidsecondary drive means includes actuatable means adapted to be actuatedby passage of a sheet through the machine, means energized by saidactuatable means, first clutch means actuated by said means energized bysaid actuatable means, and second clutch means actuated by said firstclutch means to operably engage said secondary drive means with thefirst drive means for a single cycle of operation in which saidmoistening means is actuated to moisten said sheet at a predeterminedlocation on said sheet as said sheet is fed through the machine and toactuate said master card feeding means to feed a master card into printcontacting position with the predetermined moistened location of saidsheet at the printing station.

2. The addressing machine of claim 1 wherein:

said rst clutch means includes a first movable member and a secondmovable member, whereby when said means energized by said actuatablemeans actuates said clutch means said first member will be operativelyrelated to said second member so that movement of said first member willcause movement of said second member.

3. The addressing machine of claim 2 wherein:

said first clutch means includes a timer means to cause said secondclutch means to be actuated by said rst clutch means after the passageof a predetermined time period.

4. The addressing machine of claim 3 wherein:

said means energized by said actuatable means includes a solenoid whichis adapted to actuate said first clutch means.

5. The addressing machine of claim 4 wherein:

said second clutch means includes a first movable member and a secondmovable member, whereby when said tirst clutch means actuates saidsecond clutch means, said first member will be operatively related tosaid second member so that movement of said first member will causemovement of said second member.

6. The addressing machine of claim 5 wherein:

said single cycle of operation causes the termination of the operationof the secondary drive means while the sheet is still passing throughthe machine.

7. The addressing machine of claim 6 wherein:

said means energized by said actuatable means includes a trip leverwhich lever is moved by said solenoid to actuate said first clutchmeans, and

wherein said lever also is adapted to move into position said timermeans includes a cam which is adjustable to vary the time of actuationof said second trip lever which varies the actuation of said secondclutch means and thereby varies the feeding of said card and theactuation of said moistening means.

y10. The addressing machine of claim 9 wherein:

said first and second clutch means are spring clutches.

11. 'The addressing machine of claim 10 wherein:

said secondary drive includes a reciprocating knife member having atransverse shoulder which is adapted to engage an edge of a master cardand feed said card forward into print contacting position with the sheetbeing fed.

12. The addressing machine of claim 10 wherein:

said secondary drive includes a suction device and means to lower saidsuction device into Contact with said master card and feed it into printcontacting position with said sheet being fed through the machine.

13. The addressing machine of claim 10 wherein:

said secondary drive includes a cam and said moisten- References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,564,221 12/1925 Duncan 101-56 1,884,175 10/1932Pacher et al 101-322 X 2,344,345 3/1944 Elliott lOl-48 2,766,685 10/1956Sauerman lOl-53 2,771,838 11/1956 Federwitz '10l-53 WILLIAM B. PENN,Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. lOl-247

